These Are the 10 Best Country Songs of 2025

I realize more and more of us feel like time is moving faster these days, but 2025 seems like a special case. I can't remember a year that felt as fast-paced and as short as the one we will wrap up tonight when the clock strikes 12.

Still, some pretty terrific artists had plenty of time to give us some incredible music over the past dozen months. And, more and more, as we make our way through the 2020s, I'm noticing a greater amount of songs that are very personal, revealing, and candid...sometimes painfully candid.

The Ten Best Songs of 2025

Morgan Wallen is a global superstar and, arguably, the biggest country star since Garth Brooks. If nothing else, his sales figures back that up. But, and I mean this as a huge compliment, he sometimes seems to be playing to coffeehouse audiences on Writer's Night rather than stadiums. (Even though we all know he can sell one out in the blink of an eye.) Two of his most personal songs to date found their way onto my year-end list of the 10 best country songs of 2025. And he's not the only one who had big hits with the "this is me" approach.

So, let's do this thing.

10. This Heart - Corey Kent

Corey's first number one on the Billboard Country Airplay chart is all about heartbreak, a common theme in country music. But in this one, Corey sounds like a man who is so distraught over the split that he never wants to have anything more to do with that heart...like it's the worst possible houseguest who not only won't leave, but can't leave. Great song. Great performance.

9. Boys Back Home - Dylan Marlowe & Dylan Scott

It's about moving out and moving on, but never forgetting how much fun you had while you were there and who you had fun with. I never thought this party anthem was a candidate for a Song of the Year nomination, but I smile every time I hear it, just the same. So it's earned a spot.

8. I'm the Problem - Morgan Wallen

We've had plenty of one-way break-up songs before, but Morgan turns it back on the ex in a stripped-down production that allows him to really bring the pain and a bit of sarcasm vocally. I'm not surprised it's one of his biggest hits. (And you and I both know that's saying something.)

7. Weren't for the Wind - Ella Langley

I've been following Ella for a few years now, and I'm thrilled to death that she has not just found success, but is quickly becoming one of country music's biggest stars. That should happen to a brilliant songwriter with a wood-smoke alto who, in this one (her second chart topper), gives notice that, when it comes to relationships, she comes and goes with the wind. Does she regret her approach? Maybe, and she tells us that up front. Like I said earlier...honesty.

6. Somewhere Over Laredo - Lainey Wilson

This one grew on me, but I think the whole point is that this is a deliberate slow burn, and the reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year thoroughly nails the requisite subtlety. Lainey's "theater of the mind" approach is on full display here. And I think I mean that literally; these are some of the most visual lyrics I've ever heard.

5. Broken Branches - Dierks Bentley feat. John Anderson & Riley Green

I'd like to speak to someone at Capitol Records, Dierks Bentley's label, and see if we can get this to be an official release. The title track from Dierks's 2025 album, "Broken Branches" pretty much tells us that the apples don't merely hit the ground after they've fallen the proverbial short distance from the tree. Dierks and Riley handle the first two verses, and then up to the mic steps the living legend himself. And I'm here to tell you...at 71, John Anderson has never sounded better.

4. Choosin' Texas - Ella Langley

Ella swooped in toward the end of '25 to give us another future classic. This time, she's not the one who's "gone with the wind." It's the (potentially) significant other, and he has tipped his hand. The Tennessee gal has read the body language and has concluded that whatever "this" is is off the table. (By the way, if you want to teach someone how to two-step, this is your song.)

3. I Got Better - Morgan Wallen

Man, what a dark relationship this was. And Morgan doesn't hesitate to give us every detail, including how she engineered a rift between him and his mother. I've never heard anything like that in a country song. Strong stuff. The rolling, vibey production quietly intensifies the tone.

2. Heavens to Betsy - Jackson Dean

The first several times I listened to this masterpiece, I really didn't think much of the "pink rain boots" line. The song always seemed like a deeply regretful apology from a man who has passed, to his wife, fiancée, or girlfriend. Then it was pointed out to me that he was singing to his daughter, and an already-magnificent piece of music got that much better, and much more somber. BONUS...Jackson Dean's voice is among the best I've ever heard.

1. Don't Mind If I Do - Riley Green feat. Ella Langley

Having recorded my favorite 2024 release, the blunt, spoken-word throwback "You Look Like You Love Me," Riley and Ella clearly make magic when they enter a recording studio. In their second chart-topping duet, the humor is gone, replaced by longing that comes with a split that, at first, seems one-sided until she chimes in and lets him know she's open to any and all candor about how they're feeling. This wasn't written like it's a song; it's like we're eavesdropping on a conversation that’s none of our business. And the spare production is the icing on the cake. Incredible work from all involved.

Happy New Year, and here's hoping this train keeps rolling down the same track in 2026.